“1797” (circa 1905) John Adams Indian Peace Medal. Bronze. First Size. Julian IP-1, var., Prucha-59, var. MS-65 (NGC). 75.3 mm. 3436.8 grains. Greenish olive bronze with gentle pastel highlights in the fields. The surfaces are microgranular, as made, and give the piece a pleasing satin appearance. Quite handsome overall with just a faint break in the patina on the high point of the thumb, at the central reverse. Julian and Prucha list this only in the small 51mm size, which seems to be the “original” format for the John Adams medals, but even these are thought to have been struck no earlier than the mid-19th century to sell to collectors. There were no original medals produced in the name of this administration for distribution to Native Americans. The Seasons medals, devised for the second presidency of Washington, were not delivered until Washington was out of office. As a practical matter, those were distributed during the Adams administration. Many were left over and are known to have been distributed by Lewis and Clark, so there really was no need to create Adams medals at the time. According to Julian, this large-size John Adams variant went into production around 1905 to satisfy collector demand, allowing one completion of a large-size set of Peace medals of all issuing presidents regardless of the issues that were actually distributed during their terms in office. Ex The Aesculapius Collection of Indian Peace Medals, Stack’s, January 2011, lot 6200.
